Advances in microprocessor and related technologies have led to wide spread deployment and adoption of general purpose as well as special purpose computing devices. Special purpose computing devices include but are not limited to digital cameras, camcorders, portable media players, mobile phones, mobile internet devices, set-top boxes, and digital video recorders (DVRs).
Advances in networking, telecommunication, satellite, cellular and other related technologies, either wired or wireless, along with the proliferation of broadband Internet services have also led to increased connectivity of general or special purpose computing devices over private and/or public networks, such as the Internet. Today, many computing devices are either connected to a private/public network all the time or capable of connecting to such networks on demand. As such, it is feasible, and is often more desirable, to manage these computing devices over the network in order to lower the cost of the administration.
Various management tools have been developed and deployed over the years. These management tools allow a management station to monitor and control a computing device over a network, thereby substantially reducing the need for an administrator to have actual physical access to the device. Examples of such tools include the Remote Desktop Service from Microsoft of Redmond, Wash. and Apple Remote Desktop from Apple of Cupertino, Calif. Management tools may also perform functions such as inventory update, provision, diagnostic service and error recovery, etc.
Many management tools have a client-server based architecture, which may include a management server, in forms of software or hardware, coupled to the computing device to be managed, and a management station, which may act as a client to the management server, in forms of software or hardware, connected to the management server via a network to perform management activities. Management servers may also forward the user interface display of a managed computing device to a management station, thereby allowing the management station to interact with the managed computing device through the forwarded user interface display of the managed device as if the management station is having physical access to the managed device.
Recently, the convergence towards cross-platform management protocols have made it possible for a management server that supports a cross-platform management protocol to be compatible, or interoperable, with different management stations running on various platforms. Various management stations, regardless of the platforms they are running on, may connect to the management server and perform management activities on the managed computing device, so long as the management station is compatible with the management protocol. Examples of such cross-platform management protocols include but are not limited to Virtual Network Computing (VNC), Remote Framebuffer (RFB), Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), and X11.
One drawback of the current management tools may be that it is difficult to maintain cross-platform compatibility and at the same time expand the functionalities of the management tools. The typical approach to add additional functions to the management tool may require changes to both the management server and the management station. This is potentially less than ideal because the management server may lose compatibility, or interoperability, with management stations that are unmodified.